April 13, 1898.1 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



819 



it. Well, we talked a few minutes: he went home and I 

 went to bed, forgot all aboTit what I had started to do. 



"I'd got a good giip on the sleep and was a,-plowing 

 ahead on the gallop, when my wife woke me up and said 

 there was some one at the door. I ht a candle and hur- 

 ried to the door, for it wore a dreadful cold night; but 

 there weren't anybody there. Back to bed I went quick, 

 and after prodding the old woman a bit about eating so 

 much supper as to'make her dream bad, was soon asleep 

 ag'in: but uot for long, for my wife she nudged me ag'in 

 and whispered in my ear, 'John, there is certainly some 

 one at the door.' I listened a bit 'nd heard a noise jest 

 like some feller was a-knocking on the door with mittens 

 on his hands. I were a bit vexed, sUd out of bed, pulled 

 on my pants and boots, but did not strike a light, grabbed 

 a big'cane which stood at the head of my bed, hurried to 

 the door, ox-ieued it and jumped out ready to knock the 

 stulfin' out of anything. But, my dear sir, there weren't 

 anything there to knock. I run around the house; not a 

 living critter could I see, nor even any tracks in the snow. 

 Well, I did feel sort o' queer, kind o' half-way between 

 puzzled and scart. 



"To bed I went ag'in, and was just dropping off, when 

 the old woman she nudged me hard and whispered, 

 'Hear that! jest listen; there it goes ag'in!' 



"I sat up in bed, and jest as plain as day I covdd hear a 

 dull sort of a. thump! thmnp! I begun to feel agerish 

 hke; moughfc have trembled a bit; then I hoUered, 'Who's 

 there?' No ansu'er, 



"I kinder shivered for 'bout half a minute; didn't know 

 just what to do, when there was the darndest racket out 

 in the kitchen you ever heard; sounded as if some one 

 was a-kicken a tin pan all aroxuid the room; and my 

 dog, he came a-yelpin' and howlin' into the bedroom and 

 crawled clear under the bed, where he kept up a whinin' 

 and a yelpin. My wife screamed and crawled down 

 under the bed clothes. I had not only the ager, but the 

 chills — sweating chiUs good and strong. I was rattled, 

 badly rattled; jest had sense enough left to crawl out of 

 bed, grab my gun, which was loaded, and creep carefully 

 to the kitchen door. There was certainly some feller out 

 there bare-footed and he were having a huU dancmg 

 school all to hisself . I located him as near as I could in 

 the dark, then without making any noise broiight my 

 gun to my shoulder and let her go. 



' 'The flash of the gun were just long enough to let me 

 see what the trouble was. I went back, lit a candle and 

 then went to the kitchen. There, right in the middle of 

 the floor, was that are cussed pickerel having; the liveliest 

 kind of a circus all by hisself. He were a cutting up in 

 great shape witli his flipity-flop hipity-hop jest as lively as 

 if he had jest b^en pulled out of the water. With a stick 

 of firewood I busted that are show quicker 'n you could 

 say shoo. 



"You see I hung him up in a good, warm place to thaw 

 out directly over the old woman's dish pan, right mider 

 the pan being a good Avarm out o' the way place the dog 

 used to sleep. As that infernal pickerel began to thaw 

 out his old cussedness crept back into him. Between the 

 flappings of Ms tail and the workings of his jaws he broke 

 the string, then dropped on to the dish, and both fell on 

 to the dog. 



"That, you see, was one of the times when I didn't 

 know nor couldn't tell." A. W. 



Grand Rapids, Mich. 



SALE OF TROUT IN CLOSE SEASON. 



Mr. Chas. F. ChamberlAyne, of Boston, recently sent 

 ■out a letter of inquiry to Fish Commissioners asking what 

 they considered would be the effect of a law preventing 

 the sale of artificially raised trout in the season when the 

 sale of wild trout is forbidden — i. e., after the manner 

 contemplated by the Gilbert trout bill in the Massachusetts 

 Legislature. 



Pres. L, D. Huntington, of the New York Commission, 

 writes: "The effect must be bad. We find the provision 

 of our law prohibiting 'possession' of equal, if not of more, 

 importance in the protection of game and fish than the 

 taking or kilhng of them. To allow possession and sale of 

 artificially reared trout during close season would leave 

 an opening that would vu'tually defeat the benefits de- 

 rived from it, as all trout found in possession would be 

 artificially reared (or at least so claimed by the possessor), 

 irrespective of waters from wliich they had been iUegaUy 

 taken. In my opinion, to allow possession and sale of 

 artificially reared trout during the close season would be 

 equivalent to abandoning it." 



Sea and Shore Fisheries Commissioner E, W. Gould, of 

 Maine, writes: "Such a law would have a far-reaching 

 effect, very disastrous to the inland fishing interests of the 

 country at large. The State that would permit the enact- 

 ment of such an injudicious law would of necessity be to 

 a great expense to properly enforce such a law — i. e. , to 

 dift'erentiate between a wild and artificially reared trout 

 in a legal manner. It would open a market for the sale 

 of ti-out from other States and give the fish hog a chance 

 to get in Ms nefarious work and ultimately bring about 

 a serious depletion of our inland State waters. Any one 

 who has been intimately connected with a vigorous en- 

 forcement of the laws restricting a wanton destruction of 

 om- fish will see at a glance the many and serious compli- 

 cations that would arise from the passage of such a law as 

 proposed. A cry of injustice woifid go up from the f arm- 

 XQ° community; they would say, 'Why are we thus op- 

 pressed, and allow one man to sell his trout that costs him 

 something to rear and prohibit us from sefiing trout that 

 costs us nothingV It would also stimulate the establish- 

 ment of artificial breeding ponds by unprincipled dealers 

 to be utihzed as a cover imder which to sell wild trout, 

 But I think you wifi have no cause to fear such a calam 

 ity as the passage of such a law, for yoxu- Governor has a 

 very liigh sense of right, and being a, true sportsman, is 

 peculiarly fitted to view this question in its true fight." 



Commissioner Henry O. StaMey, of Maine, writes: "I 

 do not think it good pohcy to allow artificially reared 

 trout to be sold in om- market in the close season. It is 

 practically opening the market to the pot-hunter and the 

 poacher." 



Commissioner John W. Titcomb, of Vermont, writes 

 "I fear the effect o'f allowing artificiaUy reared trout to 

 be sold in close season would give more oppoitunity for 

 fishermen to violate the laws for protection of wfid trout, 

 and that market- fishermen would be tempted to catch the 

 wild trout for the market dm-ing the close season. Under 

 the present laws we experience some difficulty in pre- 

 venting the killing of trout in close season for sMpment 



to private customers in New York and Boston, While you 

 do not ask the question, I will further state that I should 

 deem it very imwise to make an open season from Feb. 1, 

 as proposed in a bill recently introduced in your Legisla- 

 ture, if I am informed correctly. I have never read the 

 Gilbert trout bill and do not know what restrictions are 

 contained in it for the protection of wfid trout, but as a 

 sportsman and befiever in protection of aU our fish and 

 game, I fear such a bill would piwe detrimental, not only 

 to the interests of Massachusetts, but to the neighboring 

 States." 



Mr. Fred Mather, of the Cold Spring Harbor hatchery. 

 Long Island, New York, writes: "It seems to me that 

 the sale of artificially raised trout out of season would 

 open the door for frauds in many ways, but I have seen 

 this arg-ument set forth at length. Some years ago a man 

 named Fm-man advocated selling trout out of season in 

 this State, but he had no following. It might be pertinent 

 to ask if there is a demand for ti'out out of season by con- 

 sumers, or if tlie agitation of the question is mainly by 

 trout breeders. It does not appear to be possible to so 

 regulate the traffic that wild trout wiU not suffer, nor does 

 it appear to be detrimental to the pubfic to restrain their 

 appetites for trout until the season opens for wild trout," 

 Commissioner W. H. Griffin, of New Hampshire, writes: 

 'In my opinion it would be impossible to make a law that 

 would' give much, if any, protection to the wUd trout 

 whfie the sale of artificially reared trout was aUowed." 



ANGLING NOTES. 



The Pike. 



The pike, Esose lucius, caUed also lake pike, great north- 

 em pike^ gi'eat northern pickerel, or — and this is the name 

 by which it is perhaps best known, taMng one section of 

 the country with another— pickerel, is a fish that occupies 

 a queer position in the estimate of men called fishermen. 

 The regard or disregard in which the pike is held illus- 

 trates as forcibly as anything I know, the saying, "Many 

 men of many minds." In England, where the name pike 

 is rigidly adhei'ed to for this fish, except that in case the 

 fish is under a certain size it is caUed a jack, there is 

 but one species of pike — or for that matter in aU Europe — 

 and it is so highly esteemed as an angle fish that many 

 books have been written about, and devoted solely t-o it. 

 In Germany, where it is called der hecM, the pike is culti- 

 vated artificiaUy; the only country on this green earth 

 where it is so cultivated. Probably no fish has had so 

 much written about the derivation of its name as the 

 pike, unless the mascalonge of the same famfiy be an ex- 

 ception. It has been supposed that the term pike came from 

 the Saxon word piik, meamng sharp-pointed, having 

 reference to the shape of its head; also from the French 

 word pique, because of the sharpness of its snout, and 

 Nobbes, the father of trolling, says that ludus is derived 

 from lukos, the Greek word for lupus, because "the wolf 

 is the most ravenous and cruel among beasts, so the jjike 

 is the most greedy and devouring among fishes. So that 

 lupus pieis, though it be proper f ©r the sea wolf, yet it is 

 often used for the pike itself, the fresh- water wolf." 

 PenneU, writing of the fish, q^uotes Ansonius, living in 

 the fourth century: 



"The wary Luce, midst wrack and rushes hid. 

 The scourge and terror of the scaly brood. 

 Unknown at friendship's hospitable board. 

 Smokes midst the smoky tavern's coarsest food." 



And adds: "It seems as if from the earliest times the 

 character, so to speak, of the pike has commended itself 

 especially for treatment both in prose and verse, and the 

 number of quaint anecdotes, mythical legends and vener- 

 able superstitions which have clustered around it give 

 the ijike a special and distinct interest of its own. I con- 

 fess that to myself there has been always something 

 singularly attractive in the very quafities which have 

 made its chroniclers more often detractors than pane- 

 gyrists. The dovvm-ight, unadulterated savagery of the 

 brute attracts me; he is no turncoat, vicious one day and 

 repentant the next. Nothmg that swims or walks or 

 flies does he spare when his appetite is whetted by the 

 sharp wind sweeping 



"The half-frozen dyke, 

 That hungers into madness every plunging pike." 

 Weighed in the Balance of the Game Laws. 



Possibly the fish and game laws give an idea of the 

 region in which a fish is bred. In New York State the 

 pike was not protected specifically by name until a few 

 years ago, when, under the name of pickerel, it had a 

 close season provided to cover its breeding season in two 

 lakes in the northern part of the State. Of course it f oimd 

 shelter under the clause that no fish should be taken 

 except with hook or fine. After the pike had enjoyed a 

 close season- for a couple of years in the lakes referred to, 

 the law was amended with the intent to permit the shoot- 

 ing, spearing and catching of pike at all seasons in these 

 very lakes. 



The State Sportsmen's Association suggested that there 

 should be a close season for pike throughout the State, 

 and f oUowing this a member of Assembly gave notice that 

 he would mtroduce a biU making it legal to kiU pike in 

 any manner at any season. Vermont's law reads: "Nothing 

 in "this law shall be construed to prohibit the shooting of 

 pickerel or pike (not waU-eyed pike) with a gim held to 

 shoulder, from fifteenth day of March to the first day of 

 May in each year. " 



This means that the pike may be slaughtered on their 

 spawning beds. The laws of New HampsMre, Iowa and 

 Pennsylvania provide a close season for the pike which 

 covers the spawning period, but the other States, so far 

 as I have observed, give the fish no protection except 

 that it must be taken with hook and line; and some States 

 do not go as far as that. There are plenty of fishermen 

 who esteem the pike as Mghly as any fish that they have 

 the opportunity of angling for, and I happen to know 

 personaUy of several men who regard it above aU other 

 fish on the hook. Having friends who consider it a game 

 fish second to none with which they are f amfiiar, and 

 enermes that would remove it from the waters of the 

 earth, the pike appears to be between the devil and the 

 deep sea whenever there is a discussion concerning pro- 

 tective laws for our fishes. 



average pike will spawn 100,000 eggs, and Buckland 

 counted 595,000 eggs in a fish of 321bs. If my memory 

 serves me the late Dr. Sterling counted a still greater 

 number, something over 600,000 eggs in a ripe pike, but I 

 have no recoUection of the weight of the fish, and would 

 be obfiged to read scores of his letters, perhaps, to find the 

 right one. At spawning time the pike proceed in pairs 

 to the slack-water creeks and overflowed land near them, 

 and the eggs are deposited in shallow AA^ater and left to 

 their fate. This is the time that the pike are shot in the 

 da.y and speared by jacklight in the night. The eggs are 

 glutinous and adhere to anything they touch and hatch 

 in about two weeks. From" the very nature of the places 

 selected for spawning the fry are as secure from enemies 

 as any fish fry naturaUy hatched can be. Much has been 

 said of the growth of pike fry which is chiefly guess work, 

 but Herr von dem Borne wrote me last year that he has . 

 had pike reared from the egg that at five months of age 

 were about 17in. long and weighed 3+lbs. This weight 

 was brought about on a diet of small-mouthed black bass 

 fry. The bass pond was dry and allowed to fill. The 

 pike fry worked through a gravel screen one foot thick, 

 placed for the very purpose of keeping the pike out. The 

 pike being discovered, the pond was drained and 57 of 

 the pike were found. They had eaten several thousands 

 of black bass fry. The Aveight that I have given of a five- 

 months jjike is not unusual, Herr von dem Borne tells _me, 

 for he has observed it a number of times under conditions 

 that establish the age and weight beyond doubt. Black 

 bass at this same age in his ponds are about two inches 

 long. After spawning the pike are in miserable condition 

 and return to the river or lake and are found on the shores 

 until July, when they take themselves to the sand bars 

 and sand bottoms, and later, in August and September, to 

 weeds or grass bottom. A dead treetop fallen into the 

 water is a favorite lair of the pike, which is a solitary fish 

 except at breeding time. Catch a pike from an old tree- 

 top where it is lying in wait and another will take its place. 

 I once caught six pike in six successive days from the 

 same old top. The largest pike caught in this country, so 

 far as I know, was caiight in a pond in Pennsylvania, and 

 its weight was 351bs. The largest pike taken in recent 

 years from the waters of Great Britain was caught by Mr. 

 Alfred Jardine (whose name is intimately associated with 

 like tackle and pike fishing) in 1879, the fish weighing 

 _71bs. English and German writers have recorded pike 

 that have been taken weighing as high as 70, 80 and 901bs., 

 but the grandfather of all the pikes was one caught in 

 1862. An officer of the Tyrolese Rifies informed Dr. Gen- 

 zik that he was present at Bregentz when a pike of 1451b3. 

 was weighed, and Dr. Genzik himself saw a pike that 

 weighed 971bs. after it was dressed. Since the above was 

 written the Fishing Gazette, London, has come, wMch 

 contains the account of a 371bs. pike caught in Ireland on 

 March 22. The fish was weighed by Mr. Marston and 

 measured by Mr. Jardine. 



As a Food Fish. 

 As a rule the pike does not occupy a high place as a food 

 fish, and yet among some people it stands as the very 

 elect of table fishes. Like every other fish the flavor of 

 the pike depends cMefly upon the water in which it fives 

 and the food that it eats. A pike from a warm, muddy 

 pond rank with weeds must taste of the muck even as a 

 large-mothed black bass wfil under the same conditions, 

 but a pike in the autumn from a clear, pure lake is a dish, 

 properly cooked, to set before a king. The meat is hard 

 and sweet, and if fresh from the water, as it should be, is 

 flaky, white and deficious. One of the finest trout lakes 

 in the Adu-ondacks, a lake famous for its deep red-colored 

 trout, with creamy curds between the flesh flakes, was 

 stocked with pike by vandal hands. The pike destroyed 

 the trout, and their flesh became pink in color after the 

 manner of the trout, and I ate thern on* several occasions 

 when in that condition, and certainly they were an excel- 

 lent table fish. A real pike lover, one who loves to catch 

 them and eat them, wiU say that a pike for the table 

 should be shorn of its outer skin, for in it the rank flavor 

 is concealed if the fish comes from any but pui*e water. 

 The so-caUed inner skin is a thin membrane, but it is 

 sulficient to hold the flesh together when it is cooked. 



As a Hook and Line Fish. 



More pike are caught in this country by trolling a spoon 

 perhaps than by aU other methods combined. A strong 

 hand-fine and a spoon are always ready and they require 

 no further outlay except a club to kUl the fish. There is 

 precious hti;le sport in trolling for pike with tackle that 

 reqmres only an expediture of man's strength to get the 

 fish. In July, when the pike are on the sand they are in 

 good condition and they may be taken with rod and reel 

 and minnow bait, which style of fishing affords some 

 sport, firet to find and hook the fish and then to land it. 

 In the autumn, when the water is cold, the pike are at 

 their best, but they are in deeper water on the grass and , 

 may be taken by deep trolling with minnow gang, wMch 

 requires more skiU than sui-face trolling with spoon bait. 



Fishing through the ice in wmter for pike with tip-ups 

 and minnows is sport that I befieve in, and it is a style of 

 fishing that belongs to the pike, but the fish laws of some 

 of the States forbid fishing with more than one line, and 

 yet in the same States you may see in summer a scow 

 boat anchored on a pond with half a dozen baited poles 

 sticking out from the sides of the boat in as many 

 du-ections, and perhaps an equal number of hand fines 

 with corks watched over by a single occufiant. No note 

 is taken of such fishing by the law ofiicers, but an equal 

 number of tip-ups with baited lines through holes in the 

 ice would land the owner before a magistrate for using 

 "set fines" or for using more than "one line held in the 

 hand." The Supreme Court of New Hampshire held that 

 tip-ups were legal and if they were declared legal in other 

 States the fish laws woifid be in better favor. As to the 

 game quafities of the pike, some fight like demons and 

 some die fike dogs, but as a rule they fight. I was one 

 day returning from an expedition after bait in the inlet 

 stream of a big lake, and as the boat passed over a piece 

 of grass I troUed at the bottom and hooked a pike of 

 21flbs. that made no fight whatever, I simply drew the 

 fish to the surface and the oarsman kfiled the fish with 

 an oar. A few days later I hooked a 121bs. fish on a fight 

 fine and he fought hard enough for Mmself and the 

 larger fish. A. N. Cheney. 



Habits and Size of Piice. 



The pike is a spring-spawning fish, spawning in March 

 and April, and one of the most prolific of the fresh- water 

 hook and line fishes. It is commonly estimated that an 



Many of the wonders of the deep may be gotten sight of 

 by a walk through Fifiton Fish Market, Peck sfip, New 

 York. And for one no trip to New York could be com- 

 plete without it, 



